Monday, March 31, 2008

Quebecor World cuts 300 jobs

It's more bad news for printing giant Quebecor World Inc. as restructuring efforts continue and they close one of the oldest Canadian printing plants, a 37 year old facility in Magog, Quebec that was only running at 20% capacity. 300 jobs were also cut in the process. This comes on the heels of the loss of Rogers Publishing's magazines contracts, and news that Canadian Tire will no longer be printing its annual catalogue.

Two hundred of the employees losing their jobs were already on temporary layoff from the plant.

"The reason it's closing is because it's a part of the retooling and restructuring plan that we started three years ago to relocate in larger, more efficient facilities," Quebecor World spokesman Tony Ross said.

Although the retooling plan began years ago, the decision to close Magog was made only recently, he added.

A few of the employees may be offered transfers to other facilities but the majority of workers will lose their jobs. The work will be transferred to other Quebecor World facilities, but the aging equipment won't be moved, said Ross.